Irish cheddar, beer, and butter help to make this pull-apart yeasted bread Bundt an instant fan favorite.
When Felice from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs and Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm suggested “Yeasted Bundts” as the #BundtBakers theme for March, I believe my exact words were, “I love and hate you at the same time, there’s going to be a lot of bad words being mumbled in my kitchen for this one!” And you know what? I was right.
The first bought of swear words began when my bread dough failed to rise. By now, most of you know that I live in a historic house with drafts coming into it from every angle. In most households, an hour or two is sufficient for the dough to rise, in my house it requires about six hours to achieve the same result. Sometimes I think my house hates me.
Next up were a few choice words when I scraped my fingers grating the Irish cheese needed in this recipe. I believe there were five or six f-bombs, a few s-swears, and a gosh darn it all anyway to top things off. All I know is that Brenna gave me an odd quizzical look as if to say, “What’s your damage?”
Last, but certainly not least, was the joyous and rather loud event of attempting to get the yeasted bread Bundt to actually give up its hold of the Bundt pan. Cheese and hot metal become quite friendly and they do not enjoy being parted from one another’s company without much effort. I’ll refrain from sharing the words uttered during this little adventure.
Thankfully, all of the effort involved in making this Irish-inspired pull-apart bread was totally worthwhile. The bread turned out to be amazing and made a lovely addition to our snow day impromptu dinner with our amazing neighbors Amelia and James. Needless to say, I refrained from sharing with them just how many times I can use the f-word while baking bread. I believe the final count was somewhere around fifteen.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Irish Beer or Ale
- 1 (1/4-oz.) Packet Active Dry Yeast
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Seasoning
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Egg
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 6 Tablespoons Melted Irish Butter
- 2 Cups Grated Irish Cheese
- Additional All-Purpose Flour for Working the Dough
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Oiling the Bowl
Directions:
- Microwave the beer for 30 seconds, or until it is warm. Stir in the yeast and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
- On medium speed, mix the beer, 1 cup of flour, sugar, shortening, garlic seasoning, salt, and egg for 3 minutes.
- Decrease the speed to low and slowly add in the remaining flour. When the flour is incorporated, increase the speed back to medium and mix until the dough comes together. Knead the bread for 6 minutes on a lightly floured surface and then place it in an oiled bowl and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and shape it into a square on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, coat it with melted butter and then roll each ball in grated cheese before placing it into a Bundt pan. Drizzle any remaining melted butter over the dough balls and sprinkle with any leftover grated cheese.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours.
- Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven.
- Lightly cover with foil and then bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Allow the bread to rest for 5 minutes before inverting it onto a plate or platter. You may need to run a silicone spatula or knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the bread.
Suggestions:
- If you are using a store-bought garlic seasoning, you may want to eliminate the additional salt in this recipe or at least decrease it due to the sodium content. I used a low-sodium garlic seasoning.
- This bread looks very dark and you may think it is burnt; I can assure you that it is not. It’s golden brown cheesy perfection.
- Tenting the bread helps to prevent the top from over-browning.
Improvements:
- Use fresh herbs in this bread; I suggest chives or parsley. You can either add them to the dough or roll the dough balls into the finely chopped herbs after the butter and before the cheese.
- Add a teaspoon or two of hot sauce to the melted butter.
- Kerrygold Irish Dubliner is the perfect cheese to use in this recipe. You can, of course, substitute any type of cheddar, butter, or beer in this recipe, however, I’m gonna have to say that it won’t taste nearly as good.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Irish Beer or Ale
- 1 (1/4-oz.) Packet Active Dry Yeast
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Seasoning
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Egg
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 6 Tablespoons Melted Irish Butter
- 2 Cups Grated Irish Cheese
- Additional All-Purpose Flour for Working the Dough
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Oiling the Bowl
Directions:
- Microwave the beer for 30 seconds, or until it is warm. Stir in the yeast and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
- On medium speed, mix the beer, 1 cup of flour, sugar, shortening, garlic seasoning, salt, and egg for 3 minutes.
- Decrease the speed to low and slowly add in the remaining flour. When the flour is incorporated, increase the speed back to medium and mix until the dough comes together. Knead the bread for 6 minutes on a lightly floured surface and then place it in an oiled bowl and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and shape it into a square on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, coat it with melted butter and then roll each ball in grated cheese before placing it into a Bundt pan. Drizzle any remaining melted butter over the dough balls and sprinkle with any leftover grated cheese.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours.
- Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven.
- Lightly cover with foil and then bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Allow the bread to rest for 5 minutes before inverting it onto a plate or platter. You may need to run a silicone spatula or knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the bread.
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TASTE OF HOME FEATURED RECIPE
This “Irish Cheddar & Beer Bread” recipe has been featured in Taste of Home.
#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Bundt Bakers can be found on our home page.
And don’t forget to take a peek at all of the Bundts the other talented bakers have baked this month:
- Bica Bundt Cake by Patty’s Cake
- Coconut Spice Mini Yeasted Bundts by Passion Kneaded
- Cornish Saffron Cake by Food Lust People Love
- Czech Poppyseed Crown Coffee Cake by The Queen of Scones
- Guinness Bread Bundt Cake by I Love Bundt Cakes
- Healthy Vegan Bundt Cake by Bizcocheando
- Hot Cross Bundts by All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
- Irish Butter Cheesy Bread Bundt by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Jasmine Tea Savarin by Sneha’s Recipe
- King’s Bundt Cake by Sew You Think You Can Cook
- Lemon and Blackberry Savarin by A Day in the Life on the Farm
